Maple Prototype

mapleproto This is the Maple prototype, our first version of an Arduino-compatible board with an STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 processor. We’re chomping at the bits to release it as soon as we tie up a couple loose ends to make it what we think it should be. We’ve ported all the Arduino language and are modifying the Arduino environment so that everything works how it should. Notice that Maple does not have an FTDI chip, so serial communication works through a USB Virtual COM Port that’s implemented on the STM32, so it may even be slightly easier to setup than Arduino boards because FTDI drivers aren’t required, and the drivers for the Virtual COM Port are probably already on your Mac or Linux machine; for Windows, you’ll just use the driver that we include with the software download.

We’re also extending the Arduino language to allow users to do things with the STM32 that the Atmega chips cannot do such as easy setting up of different types of USB devices (HID for crazy mouses, mass storage, or full speed USB 2.0 data transfer)  and other communication protocols (USART, SPI, I2C, I2S, CAN), providing higher bandwidth capabilities.

To allow people an opportunity to experiment with the performance benefits of Maple, we’re designing a couple shields to stack on. The one I’m most excited about is the audio shield. I love programming real-time audio synthesis and effects processing algorithms and have experimented with these things on Arduino. Audio processing is one thing that can quickly lead to hitting the limitations of the Arduino AVR processors. I like to simulate real-time audio effects processing with MATLAB (though I’m starting to move to Python) by importing an audio file and writing an algorithm that slides a buffer through the audio data as if it were being captured in real-time from a guitar or something. It’s disappointing to create a cool effect that takes too much processing or memory to implement on the embedded hardware you’re using, so I can’t wait to allow people more flexibility here and for other things. Another shield we might do is an OLED display with a little trackball or joystick. I haven’t seen an OLED display shield at a reasonable cost. We’re open to suggestions!

Posted on August 16, 2009 at 6:23 pm by okie · Permalink
In: Uncategorized

32 Responses

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  1. Written by Pieeyedpiper
    on August 26, 2009 at 11:53 am
    Reply · Permalink

    Checking this blog everyday now, it’s like a new girlfriend i cant wait for the first date.

  2. Written by Shigeru Kobayashi
    on September 1, 2009 at 9:34 am
    Reply · Permalink

    Hi,

    I’m a developer of Funnel (a higher level toolkit that supports Arduino boards via Firmata) and I’m really interested in Maple. Since I’d like to support Maple, could you please include me the mailing list. I’m also interested in purchasing a board to evaluate.

    Best,
    Shigeru

  3. Written by Lucy-Roulette
    on September 1, 2009 at 12:47 pm
    Reply · Permalink

    Hey, ok, I get it, I guess – but does this really work?

  4. Written by Bill
    on September 2, 2009 at 5:39 am
    Reply · Permalink

    Neat, I was just thinking of starting a similar project here: http://robotbrighton.ning.com/forum/topics/super-mega-arduino-project
    But it might be redundant now. Will you make a version compatible with the new Arduino Mega as well?

  5. Written by orktes
    on September 3, 2009 at 2:01 pm
    Reply · Permalink

    Could you add me to your mailing list?

  6. Written by William Schaub
    on September 4, 2009 at 12:04 am
    Reply · Permalink

    I love it. I’m looking to build a device that will fit in your pocket, talk 802.11 IBSS (ad-hoc) mode. and implement a scaled down version of my TEOTWAWKI Net project. just walk around with the device in your pocket and let it accumulate and propagate the news articles. then later on plug it into your USB port and grab the accumulated information. for such a device I would really want to be able to hook up both a 4GB SD card and an 802.11 module. (either standard Adriuno shields for both or just have a higher performance module from you guys) any suggestions for a good, open real time OS I could run on this board when it comes out?

    You cna find out more about my project at http://teotwawki.steubentech.com and http://steubentech.com/~talon/blog

  7. Written by puddles
    on September 16, 2009 at 11:29 am
    Reply · Permalink

    If you can make a shield with several USB A female sockets I can find uses for it :-) I would love to hook this baby up to GPS, ODBII and displaylink monitor.

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